Together (Tilsammans).

Together (Tillsanunans) * Written and directed by Lukas Moodysson * Starring Lisa Lindgren, Gustaf Hammarsten, Ola Norell * IFC Films

The post-pubes who hang onto every last second of MTV's The Real World like it was some revolutionary westernized kibbutz might be startled to learn of an earlier time--in the Paleolithic dawning of political correctness--when large groups of young adults lived together in big, messy houses that smelled of chamomile and garlic bulbs. They would lake turns making lentil soup, share dog-eared copies of Kate Millet, and collectively care for vegetarian, feminist children who were not allowed to watch television.

The noble social experiment of the '60s and '70s known as the commune is eulogized with decidedly mixed feelings in Together, a charming comedy from the Swedish director of Show Me Love. Lukas Moodysson was a youngster during 1975 (when the film takes place), but he has retained the spirit of a communal upbringing in all its freewheeling and fundamentalist chaos.

Moodysson's Stockholm collective calls itself Together, but it is defined by a variety of dogmatically held principles that constantly threaten to split it apart. The resident rabble-rousing socialist demands postcoital discussions of Marxism; a lesbian insists upon her right to attend breakfast naked from the waist down; her ex-husband staunchly guards his heterosexuality from incursions by the house homosexual; and Pippi Longstocking is banned from the children (one of whom is named for the Tet offensive) on the grounds that it is materialistic.

The earnestness with which the Togetherniks defend their sundry radical values is thrown into relief with the arrival of the sister of one of the residents, seeking asylum with her two kids from an abusive husband. The meeting of bourgeois and bohemian causes a two-way meltdown: Soon the sister stops shaving under her arms, and the lesbian discovers the joys of mascara.

The schematic plot is overly pat and occasionally precious: Moodysson tips closer to the Lasse Hallstrom school of filmmaking than the Ingmar Bergman. But he works up credible ensemble energy and shows a cantaztkerons appreciation for the ways in which alcoholism and promiscuity are rendered acceptable with utopian language. Even aging hippies would have to laugh at the spectacle of two boys subverting the house ban on war toys by improvising Pinochet torture games.

Find more on together and other films by Lukas Moodysson at www.advocate.com

Stuart is the author of The Nashville Chronicles (Simon and Schuster).